Le rôle des citations chez La Mothe Le Vayer: érudition et éclectisme

Compared to Plutarch because of the erudition which he uses in his works, La Mothe Le Vayer is nevertheless accused of pedantry by some of his contemporaries. The quotations which he inserts in his works are disliked by the writers who believe that French alone should be used in literary works. However, the quotations which he owes exclusively to his scholarly leisure allow him to express his eclectic thinking. Deeply influenced by Pyrrhonism, he is not interested in drawing permanent conclusions and in choosing one amongst the different opinions on the same natural or moral phenomenon. The quotations make it possible for him to gather various interpretations of the same natural or moral phenomena which have been considered the most plausible at a certain moment and place.